Title : 9 am to 9pm : a day with Verma Family
Author: Murlidhar Shrivastava
Blurb:
1959- Vijay Verma sees Sheela Verma in an award function and loses his heart to her…..
1985-Sandeep Verma seems Seema Singh in a marriage ceremony and falls instantly for her…..
2009-Ritika Verma comes across Ravi Parsuraman in her college campus and misses a few heartbeats…
One family….Three generations…
Well, time changes, generation’s change….Love stories stay? However, every generation has different ways of expressing it and every generation has its own problems.
There are large social, familial, cultural and life style changes that Indian society has undergone in the last fifty odd years……and the book through the love stories of three succeeding generations of one family has tried to interestingly deal with those changes but raises some moralistic issues…
It’s a ONE DAY STORY which starts in the morning at 9am and finishes at 9pm on the dinner table….
Review:
If professional touch is provided to the cover, it could convey more of story, and can grasp reader’s attention abruptly. Through the title, it was pretty hard to guess as what the story would serve, but the blurb at the back conveys about the story in a candid manner. Thought behind the title and relating it with the story is likable, which in beginning reader’s may feel pretty hard to digest, but when he/she go through this book it would be crystal clear as what it means.
The book basically focuses on conveying the story of change in lifestyles of three generations of a family, and story of falling in love. The concept author has chosen to write upon is appreciable, but a friendlier approach towards narrating the story would make the book stand completely on reader’s expectation, what all reader is wanting from this book is to be able to connect with it properly and relate to the scenarios.
A very simple writing style author has chosen to narrate the story and at the same time, it is soothing and nicely articulated. The simplicity in the writing style makes it easy to go with the story, simple words and compact description of events,but the story demands more interesting events to grab reader’s attention.
The story runs on a great speed, providing only needed details to the readers, and on the same time snatches the moment from readers to connect to the characters. Although it was easy to comprehend the characters and events, but to accommodate them in the sub-conscious mind, it demands more information and time. The smooth flow required in the transition of events is somehow missing. Participation of some irrelevant events at some places, took off my interest which is found in the section ‘Ritika’s page’. I believe this section could be presented in a friendlier way instead of digging into uninteresting events. The proportion in which stories of three generations are narrated should be in equal proportion as to maintain the charm of the theme. A better execution on the thought would’ve done great to this book.
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Shweta Kesari